How to Drive on the Highway

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Freeway driving is an essential part of learning to operate a car, driving on the highway can save you time and get you to places easier.[1] Driving on the highway can be a little scary at first, but is simple once you understand everything.

Pick a highway and a time. It's best to start when you know the highway will not be crowded. Weekends and evenings are best. Pay attention to the traffic reports in your area. Make sure you know exactly where you're going and you don't have any place to go for a while.

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Make sure your car's brakes, lights, turn signals, steering, transmission and all other parts are working safely.[3] Get the car inspected and fixed if necessary. The freeway is the worst possible place for a breakdown.

Start driving from your driveway, then head for the freeway on-ramp. Don't take the on-ramp too fast, but when you come off it you should be going close to the speed of freeway traffic (whatever that may be at the time).

As you come up the on-ramp, use your turn signal, check your blind spot and mirrors, look forward again and merge onto the highway.[4] You must watch for cars on the freeway and adjust your speed to enter the freeway safely. Although many people will change lanes to the left to give merging cars more room, it is not their responsibility to let you onto the freeway. Once you've safely merged onto the freeway, match your speed to the flow of traffic.

Practice changing lanes as you cruise down the highway. Use your turn signal, mirrors, and glance at your blind spot every single time. Remember when driving on freeways that you should always stay in the furthest lane to the right unless you are passing a slower moving vehicle in front of you. You have probably seen signs which read, "KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS."[5] If everyone followed this rule traffic congestion would be much less severe. If you are in the 'faster' lanes (left lanes) and there is a large space in front of you and many cars behind you YOU ARE OBSTRUCTING TRAFFIC. Safely change lanes toward the right to allow traffic to pass. It is not your job to enforce speed limits by obstructing traffic on the freeway.[6]

When you're ready to get off the highway, find an appropriate off-ramp and get in the correct lane, using the steps to change lanes. As soon as the off-ramp breaks away from the main highway, start slowing down, on the ramp there might be a speed limit sign for you to follow.[8]

Some highways have posted minimum speeds - usually 40 mph. Most do not, but it is usually unsafe to travel below that speed unless there are adverse weather conditions, road work, or other events that prevent you from safely traveling near or at the speed limit. If you are going to drive under the posted speed limit, make sure you are driving in the right hand lane.

In my opinion, a beginner should pick freeways without construction and go early morning on a Sunday, like 7 am. My daughter and I are going out today and we do this weekly. I also have her watch some training videos on YouTube to add further thought and discussion. The first attempt we made was an easy level freeway entrance where you don't have to merge onto the freeway if you don't feel up to it. Other freeway entrances are definite on where you must enter, so maybe talk to some experienced drivers and ask where these entrances are located. Ask an experienced driver to come along to guide.

Tips

If you're not good at navigating, have somebody who already knows how to drive take you down the highway before you do it yourself. This way you'll know exactly where you're going, and it'll remove the worry of getting lost.

Never, never change lanes without signaling and checking your blind spot first. Otherwise you could change lanes right into another car you didn't know was there. A little round blind-spot mirror stuck to the lower inside corner of the side mirror (where it would otherwise just reflect your car) can help with this, but remember anything in them is much closer than it appears, and you should glance anyway.

Practice your first few times with an experienced driver in the car. You'll want a buddy along in case something goes wrong, to help you navigate, and to warn you if you're about to hit something. Also, with another person in the car, you can drive in carpool lanes.

You may find it easier to learn on a car with an automatic transmission first. Especially with a low-powered automatic car, don't be afraid to step on the accelerator hard, which will make the car shift into a lower gear and accelerate more quickly and more noisily, when necessary. It is supposed to do that to generate the full power for which the car is designed.

About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 13 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. Together, they cited 10 references.

Reader Success Stories

PA

Pearl Amarh

Jun 28

"Great lessons on how to use freeways."

AJ

A. Jackson

Jul 7, 2017

"I have a teenage daughter learning to drive. I found it hard picking times and days that traffic would not overwhelm my new driver. This article gave me simple ways to explain and prepare my daughter for conquering the highway! I was thrilled to find an article to help me with daughter, and just as thrilled to have gained information for myself as well, thank you!"..." more

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L

Laila

Jul 22, 2016

"I am a new driver for a month now, but am still hesitating to go on a highway yet. The article gave me some tips to take a step forward. The most important is that now I know that I need someone to be with me while starting to drive on a highway."..." more

MM

Maureen Maloney

Apr 13, 2016

"Instructions were precise. Helped with a very strategic question about merging into traffic. Learned I need to slow down to evaluate oncoming traffic."..." more

CG

Carlos Granados

Aug 7, 2016

"What the article helped me the most was to practice and keep your cool, and turn your signals and check your blind spot when changing lanes."..." more

DE

Dyan English

Jun 9, 2016

"This article was very helpful, it gave me the encouragement to go by myself. I read details to assist me better with driving on the highway."..." more